Born in Paris in 1940, Claude Monet grew up in Le Havre in Normandy. At age 11, he was selling charcoal caricatures for twenty francs. By the time he was 16, he met Eugene Boudin by chance while on the beaches of Normandy. Boudin taught him how to use oil paints and techniques for painting en plein air.

Before his twentieth birthday, Monet visited Paris and studied the paintings in the Louvre. He met other young painters including Eduard Manet. In 1861 at age 21, he was drafted into the army and stationed in Algiers. After a bout with typhoid fever and with some assistance from his aunt, Monet left the army and returned to Paris where he formally studied art.

Monet disliked formal art studies, but made important lifelong friendships with his fellow students Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Frederic Bazille and Alfred Sisley.

In these early years, Monet strived to be accepted in the Academy des Beaux-Arts exhibition at the Salon de Paris. But in the early 1960's, the conservative art establishment rejected the work of Monet and his young friends.

Energized by this rejection, Monet and his friends established the Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors and Engravers. In 1872, Monet presented a painting entitled Impression, Sunrise at the Exhibition of the Impressionists. Art critic Louis Leroy reviewed the exhibition and coined the term "Impressionism," originally meant to disparage the work of the young artists, but a term which soon came to define a major artistic movement.

View Near Rouelles is the first Monet painting publicly exhibited near his home in Le Havre. Monet's teacher Eugene Boudin took the 18 year old Monet to Rouelles in 1858. It shows exceptional skill and is tribute to how much Monet was able to learn from Boudin.

Towing of a Boat at Honfleur is a studio painting and serves as a testament to Monet's able visual memory. The clouds and colors of the sunset were based on a pastel Monet had done at a another location.

The Pointe de Heve at Low Tide was originally a smaller painting, but Monet did a larger version for exhibition. It was submitted and accepted by the Salon and warmly received, and praised for its "brooding grandeur" and "ominous forces of nature."

Adolphe Monet Reading in a Garden shows Claude's father peacefully reading his newspaper while shaded in a garden. The painting shows none of the tension between father and son, especially since Adophe had just learned that Claude's lover, Camille Doncieux, was expecting.

Luncheon on the Grass is part of a larger painting prepared for the Salon in 1866, but it was not finished in time and consequently not shown. In preparing for this painting, Monet enlisted some friends to serve as models, preparing studies of of them as figures against backgrounds of shadowed trees and green leaves. Some parts of the painting are tentative while others are quite finished. In Monet's studio, the canvas for this painting was 13 x 20 feet.

The Cradle show's Claude's newborn born son Jean lying in a cradle. At this time, Monet and his lover Camille Doncieux lived in poverty. The woman pictured next to the cradle is probably Jean's godmother, Julie Vellay, the companion of Monet's older friend, Camille Pissarro.

A Hut at Sainte-Adresse was painted during the summer of 1867. This painting of the hut was important to Monet. He exhibited it the following year and exhibited it again three more times. This is only the second time though that this painting has been exhibited since 1889. He painted the hut from a terrace just above while the sea from a more extreme angle, higher up the hill.

Quai du Louvre shows the modern Paris of 1867 about the time of the Universal Exposition, showing off the city's new ornaments and modernity. This scene along the Seine shows sales and advertising kiosks, trees and new street lights.

Green Wave had to be painted in the studio, but Monet, working from memory, keenly observed reality, and shows the steep perspective of the boat as it heels sharply toward the horizon, straining as ropes pull the boat's nets.

On the Bank of the Seine shows the maturity of Monet's compositional strategy. The elements are all strong compositional components and work together to create a bold scene.

Jean Monet Sleeping shows Jean at age one. The smock appears to have be painted in a hurry. Monet finished the canvas with the same brevity. It appears Monet gave more attention to the pattern of the wall paper than he did to his son. Wall paper remains still, infants do not.

La Grenouillere shows a major turning point in the work of the impressionists. In the late summer of 1869, Claude and Camille were poor, and their friend Renoir often literally supplied them with bread. It was at this time Renoir created three paintings of Le Grenouillere while Monet created two. All five paintings exhibit a stenographic style of brushwork rendering the choppy water of the sun dappled river, the initiation of an impressionistic technique.

On the Beach at Trouville exhibits Monet's use of bright color. He uses cobalt blue in the striped dresses of both foreground figures and continues use of that color in the background. With contrast, he adds touches of bright red and pink. He gives the painting real volume with the angle and lines of the chair and the pattern in Camille's dress, bold and distinct in the foreground while less so as it recedes deeper into the frame.

Houses by the Zaan in Zaandam is one of ten paintings Monet dedicated to the town of Zaandam. This sunset shows the port from a landing looking down into the water, its rippling surface created with carefully placed stokes of nearly rectangular shape. The sky with yellows, blues and rose is reflected in the water, broken by the shadow cast by the harbor pier with its line of boats.

Regatta at Argenteuil is astonishingly bold. The bright sails and houses are reflected in the rippling water with nearly rectangular strokes of color reflecting in the water. This painting first belonged to Gustave Caillebotte. He in turn, left it to the nation of France. Monet's early years were nearly forgotten, but this painting from the close of his early years, left from the collection of a discerning fellow painter, shows both Monet's past and future.

John Hilton never engaged in name dropping. He never expressed much interest in status or fame. He was simply a man who loved the desert. The desert was in John's blood, it was the core of his being.

He was a life-long student of the desert's geology, biology, zoology, its history, its native people, and especially its beauty. It was this passion which attracted John's friends, both the famous and the not-so famous. John liked everyone who possessed a zest for life and a love of the desert and shared a desire to thrive in its beauty. In turn, those who had that zest for life and a love of the desert liked John.

Dwight Eisenhower met John Hilton in the late 1940's at an outdoor art show in Palm Springs. Katherine Ainsworth, author of Hilton's biography The Man Who Painted Sunshine, wrote, "One Sunday, John had just finished giving a painting demonstration when a quiet, smiling man drew closer to the picture and reached out to touch the surface and left his fingerprint in the wet paint. The man was overcome with embarrassment and apologized profusely.

John just laughed and said, 'Think nothing of it, General Eisenhower, that fingerprint makes my picture a collector's item.'" This meeting

resulted in several visits Ike made to John's home and studio in Twentynine Palms and John's attending Ike's Second Inaugural and presenting a painting, Twentynine Palms Oasis, which Ike placed in the Oval Office

General George Patton came across John Hilton soon after Pearl Harbor. Patton's officers came upon Hilton in an Indio restaurant where they asked Hilton, known locally as a desert expert, about locations where the General could train tank troops for his Africa Corps. Based on his men's recommendations, Patton gave Hilton a call and invitation to dinner. The meeting resulted in John Hilton's accompanying the General on an off-road jeep reconoitering mission throughout the Mojave Desert. After the trip, Patton asked Hilton to join join the Army and be part of his staff in North Africa, but Hilton was already committed to mine optical grade calcite for the War Department.

In the months to come, the General visited Hilton at his home on the Salton Sea at Dos Palmas. After the war, Hilton and his son visited a Los Angeles homecoming parade for General Patton. Patton surprised Hilton

when he had his driver pull over to the side of the parade route, and personally greeted him. It was the last time Hilton saw his friend. Soon after, Patton returned to Europe and was in a car crash. He died December 21, 1945.

James Cagney disliked the Hollywood lifestyle and preferred the quiet and solitude of his get-away home in

"Katy my dear, don't you worry about it. Just paint what's in your heart." Kathi says Jimmy's advice became her mantra the rest of her life.

and counted the desert artists among their closest friends including John W. Hilton, Jimmy Swinnerton and Clyde Forsythe. After Ed died, Katherine authored the biography of John W. Hilton, The Man Who Painted Sunshine.

In the 1930's, John W. Hilton considered himself to be a rank amateur painter, but Katherine Ainsworth quotes John in The Man Who Painted Sunshine explaining how John got to meet and learn from the great desert painters, especially Maynard Dixon.

"Actually, the desert painters as we know them today had found each other through the rankest amateur because I had a centrally located place where they could all camp in the yard and cook spaghetti and sing at the top of their lungs.

I learned a great deal from all of these fellows, but the thought of copying

any of their styles never entered my head -- or theirs. In the final analysis, they taught me informally about composition, color harmony, drawing, and the handling of paint; but it was the desert itself that taught me to really paint pictures that people would buy and hang on their walls.

It was on the days that I went out alone that I followed the advice of Maynard Dixon and spent all day painting bushes and throwing the sketches away, and painting clouds and discarding them too. I became familiar with the great, wonderful land around me a piece at a time. A rock at a time, a bush at a time, a mountain or the Salton Sea -- each in its turn became mine as I discovered by trial and error how to get it down on a sketch board."

Jimmy Swinnerton was an art school classmate of Maynard Dixon in San Francisco. As very young artists, they were noticed by newspaper editor William Randolph Hearst. Both soon became illustrators for Hearst's papers, and Jimmy became a pioneering cartoonist. Hearst recruited Swinnerton for his New York papers where he became wildly successful for his strip Little Jimmy and others. While still a young man, Swinnerton received a severe tuberculosis diagnosis and a dire prognosis. Hearst gave Swinnerton a train ticket and sent him to Palm Springs. In time, Jimmy recovered and thrived. In the desert, he maintained his cartooning work, creating a strip of Navajo children living in the Grand Canyon called Canyon Kiddies. But, his main focus was returning to his fine art roots, and became the dean of the California desert school.

When John Hilton met Jimmy Swinnerton, Swinnerton was a generation older than Hilton, a well established artist, a celebrated member of San Francisco's Bohemian Club. The pair forged an immediate friendship which lasted the rest of their lives. John's passion for the desert and his interest in art meshed well with Jimmy. John volunteered as Swinnerton's personal chauffeur, and accompanied Jimmy on many painting excursions, many to Monument Valley. Through Jimmy, John Hilton became friends with Maynard Dixon and Clyde Forsythe.

Clyde Forsythe and Norman Rockwell were studio-mates in New York. Clyde was the most senior of the pair and by far the most gregarious. Rockwell, being shy and reserved, drew strength from his more daring partner. It was Clyde Forsythe who goaded, encouraged and enabled Norman Rockwell to submit his portfolio to the Saturday Evening Post.

Clyde interspersed his New York time with the California Desert. He made his home in Alhambra on Champion Place, aka "Artists Alley." His neighbors included Frank Tenny Johnson and Sam Hyde Harris.

Rockwell would visit in the wintertime. On one such occasion, Forsythe introduced Norman to one of his neighbors, an Alhambra school teacher named Mary Barstow who became Rockwell's second wife. Rockwell enjoyed the company of artists while on his wintertime California trips.

On one occasion, he accompanied Clyde Forsythe on a visit to Thermal, a small desert town southeast of Palm Springs to visit his good friend, John Hilton. The three enjoyed each other's company and, according to the recollections of Kathi Hilton, the three participated in creating a painting together.

The most intensive artistic training John Hilton ever received came from famed Russian artist Nicolai Fechin.

Fechin was well known in his native Russia prior to the revolution. When he came to America, he first achieved success in New York and later moved to Taos, New Mexico. He became known for his portraits of Native Americans, an interest which brought him to meet John W. Hilton.

Katherine Ainsworth writes of their friendship, "Fechin hated to drive, in fact, probably had never learned, and requested John to drive him to scenic places and to the Indians John knew so well. In exchange, Fechin offered to criticize Hilton's work."

Hilton dropped everything to be tutored by the great Russian painter. Hilton wrote of Fechin, "He was ruthless and merely said, 'Sell your cactus, sell your rocks, sell everything you have, but get to work on your art.' Hard as times were, I had faith in Fechin and did as he ordered."

"There was a human skull on a desk. For the next three months he said, 'Don't paint, just draw.' He rigged up an electric light on a cord and hung it from the ceiling. 'Now,' he said, 'light the skull from every angle and draw it.

But bring your sketches to me when you think they are worth looking at.' When I thought a sketch was pretty good, I'd take it up to Fechin's studio in Palm Springs. He'd take one look and usually tore the drawing up and merely said, 'Now get back to your drawings.' He kept saying, 'Get behind the principle.'"

"For a long time, I didn't quite know what he meant," confessed Hilton, "and then one day it dawned on me. He meant that a successful painting had to go beyond the principle; or the mere surface and penetrate down into reality -- the thing itself."

Paintings by Kathi Hilton and John W. Hilton will be featured in an exhibition and sale at the Palm Desert Historical Society March 17-20, 2017. Kathi will be on hand to offer some fascinating first hand stories of the Coachella Valley, and can elaborate on some of the stories told above. Palm Desert Historical Society Website

While Winston participated in sittings for the portrait, he developed a true liking for Graham Sutherland. After the unveiling, Churchill loathed the painting. He wanted a portrait which honored the character and traits which he had exhibited during WWII.

At the time, Lady Churchill said, "It was a cruel and gross travesty of Winston, showing all the ravages of time and revealing nothing of the warmth and humanity of his nature." Several years after it was painted, Lady Churchill had the painting destroyed.

The portrait was presented to Sir Winston on Nov. 30, 1954. On November 20, Lady Churchill took a photo of the work and showed it to Winston who disliked it at first sight, saying it was "filthy," and "malignant." With ten days to go before

the presentation ceremony, Winston called Sutherland to reject the portrait. Sutherland responded to the critique saying he painted what he saw. MP Charles Doughty stepped into the impasse, persuading Churchill to go through with the presentation ceremony so as not to offend the donors who had paid for it.

It was planned that the portrait would hang in Parliament after Sir Winston's death, but was given to him for the present. Churchill took the painting to Chartwell where it was never displayed.

Later the truth came out, or at least a version of it. According to the Telegraph, July 10, 2015, it was revealed that Lady Churchill had the painting stored in the basement at Chartwell after its arrival in December of 1954.

While Sir Winston was still alive, Lady Churchill tasked her private secretary, Grace Hamblin along with Hamblin's brother to remove the painting in the middle of the night, take it to a remote location and burn it. Hamblin later said of Lady Churchill, "So she was ruthless about it; it had to go."

In 1978, Grace Hamblin confirmed the loss of the painting, and was quoted as saying, "This was done on her own initiative by Lady Churchill before Sir Winston's death." Controversy arose with critics and Sutherland himself calling it an act of vandalism, while others said it was Churchill's right to dispose of his property as he saw fit.

"Forces of Nature" at Corrick's. Linda will be one of the featured ArtTrails artists at Corrick's on 4th Street in Santa Rosa for the month of March, with the reception Friday 5-7pm on her birthday March 3rd. Come say hi at the reception, or arrange a separate meeting, and check out the status of the Courthouse Square reunification nearby. www.LindaSorensenPaintings.com Also featured is Luann Udel with her exceptional jewelry and other mixed media art. www.LuannUdell.com

In Memoriam ... Robert DeVee, our gallery neighbor and friend has died. Robert was a special friend. Often he would step into our gallery for visit. He would quietly enter, stand and sway in front of a particular painting for a long time, as if he was having an extended artistic conversation with the artist. He then would have a positive comment about some aspect of the painting. Never did he have anything negative to say. Then, we would have a small conversation about the weather or the nature of the art business, and Robert would head off for the rest of his day.

Ren Brown is planning a memorial for Robert to take place April 1 at their gallery - The Ren Brown Collection. Many of Robert's impressionist landscape paintings will be on view. Currently, some are on display at the Terrapin Creek Cafe, a favorite place of Robert and Ren.

Linda Sorensen's paintings can now be seen at the Bodega Landmark Gallery Collection, the gallery in the inland town of Bodega at the west end of Bodega Highway (Hwy 12), a half block from the Casino, and just across from the General Store and the Bodega Volunteer Fire Department.

Our thanks to Lorenzo De Santis for showing Linda's work and hope you can all stop in and see this wonderful (and renovated) gallery very soon.

Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery is not at present a "brick and mortar" storefront gallery. We've moved out and now exist as an online only gallery, although arrangements can be made to view specific artworks. Please keep in touch with us by phone, our website, and our newsletters to keep up on where Linda's artist studio lands, and what new ways we may find to show and celebrate historic California art beyond the website itself.

Pacific Bay Gallery is planning to be open by the end of March, next door to The Ren Brown Collection. The large palm tree (Bodega Bay's newest and tallest) which they've planted next to the gallery has now been unfurled and stands in all its glory. The gallery will feature the work of resident artist Noki Jones. This is the same location which was home to Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery for six years, beginning Jan 1, 2011 and ending Oct 31, 2016. At present, we have no physical home but for the foreseeable future, we will continue as an online-gallery.

Bentonville, AR
Crystal Bridges
Museum of American Art